I am writing a fan fic centered around the Freedom series and in it the Eosi are protagonists again.

The logic underpinning this is thus:-

Where did the Eosi come from? They had only been "altering" the Catteni for around 1,000 years then what were they before that? Are they a race of parasitic intelligences that breed suitable hosts? How big is the Eosi empire and is Catten only one small arm of it?

Even without making the Eosi into a Freedom version of the Goa'uld from Stargate, there were still the Eosi who were left alive after the coup. Given the tenacity of the Ix Mentat would the others have fled the Empire or would they be working with still loyal members of the Catteni elite to regain control?

Within Catten itself there must be those who are dissaffected by the loss of thier own power base. Zainal's own sire Perizec whould scarcely be in love with the idea of no more Eosi.

Thanks for the feedback. As you can guess this will be part of the story arc I am working on. I know that I will probably never get published and am OK with that but there are many part of this story that I simply HAVE to write. I hitnk there has been a story in me for some time and it is now making it's break for freedom - if you will pardon the pun

My little foray into the field will be called Freedom's Price. It starts around two years after Freedom's Ransom at the opening of a Terran Enclave on Barevi. We see Kris and Zainal center stage at the opening ceremony both acutely uncomfortable in thier roles.

From here I plan to resolve the following points

The freeing of the slaves without bringing down the whole Catteni Empire
The cost of freedom to someone who has been a lifetime slave
The role of the Catteni women and what freedom means to them
The cost of Freedom to those whose lifestyle rests on the status quo (I am thinking here of Zainal's sire - Zainal is from a family that has benefitted from Eosi rule and so his sire will be a main opponent)
The apparent paralell evolution of man (yes I have an answer)

with the slavery bit- would there be parallels with the British Empire?
The ban on (official) slavery didn't seem to stall the expansion but eventualy it broke back down into componant parts though each are linked by shared heritage.

Starts on Barevi with the opening of a new Terran Enclave. This Enclave is the brainchild of many and represents a new era in Earth -Catteni relationships. This event is so important that an all day celebration is slated. The Catteni Council are to be among the first official visitors to the site.

Underlying this frivolity is the chance for the Catteni Council and the newly formed Terran Space Admiralty to meet and discuss problems besetting the two races.

They initially meet in a what was the original underground dwelling. During this meeting the two races outline the problems confronting them. These include not only the rebuilding of Earth but the reclaiming of Earth's stolen people and treasures. The Catteni reveal that they are having problems with Rassi uprisings, rebellion led by Perizec among the Emassi who wanted a return of the Eosi and finally the threat of the Eosi themselves who were proving to be more resourceful than was hoped.

Although the Emassi were no strangers to plot and intrigue, the experts from the Admiralty, led by Ray Scott have all of Earth's long history in war to draw from and develop strategies.

Among the people of importance at the opening ceremonies for the Terran Enclave are the twin grandaughters of Nitin and Milista. It was the kidnapping of the two girls, last of Nitin's line, to serve in the Eosi Harem (a event that occurred only after an Eosi had regenerated through Subsumation)that originally caused Nitin to join the Catteni uprising against the Eosi.

Once taken Catteni girls were traditionally considered dead to their families. As the story unfolds it shows that the girls hold two secrets that will change the direction of their whole people. The first secret is how they and five others escaped the Eosi compound where they were held.

We then swap to the back story of Nilista and Milistin, picking up where they have escaped to Earth to be away from the Eosi that would surely hunt and kill them. They are in India. Whilst there they were contacted by Hassan Moussa who, on return to Earth, has been recruited into finding out about these women, why and how they got to Earth. Hassan, under orders from the Co-ords, grooms the women to become the centre of a growing media storm as Earth uses them to prove that it was the Eosi who were the prime villains in the pillage of Earth.

This becomes a story of a journey by women as they slowly become emancipated from the conditioning of their childhood culture.

The story returns to Barevi and the celebrations going on that day. There are attempts on the lives not only of the Catteni Council but the entire compound. This is foiled.

The Catteni women are recruited, along with some of the best burglars on Earth to break back into the abandoned Eosi compounds. They discover some of the secrets of the Eosi.
Paxel and Nilista are trapped by an Eosi. They learn of the plan by the Eosi to launch a fleet aimed at conquering Catteni worlds again.

Thank-you Allana. There is much to explore within the Catteni female - so much so that the secondary story, the one about the Nilista and Milistin is proving to be the stronger of the two. This could also be because they are mostly my characters and not a continuation of already well developed characters.

There is a lot I want to bring into that secondary story. I want to explore the concept of freedom from the perspective of a woman who has been within a patriarchial society (and we have lots of examples here on Earth). I want to explore how self-reliance can be achieved and how a culture can be changed.

I am afraid to delve too deeply into the farmers in case I end up with the "Deus ex Machina" problem

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Deus ex Machina or "God in the Box"

Story featuring a miraculous solution to the story's conflict, which comes out of nowhere and renders the plot struggles irelevant. H G Wells warned against SF's love for the deus ex machina when he coined the famous dictum that "If anything is possible, then nothing is interesting." Science fiction, which specializes in making the impossible seem plausible, is always deeply intrigued by godlike powers in the handy pocket size. Artificial Intelligence, virtual realities and nanotechnology are three contemporary SF MacGuffins that are cheap portable sources of limitless miracle.

Agreed they were very neccessary in the Ann's novels but they may cramp any future story. I am tossing up the idea of setting story climax that has a huge Eosi Armada bearing down on Earth Catteni Space. Me being me I would possibly leave the reader guessing as to whether the outcome was due to the Farmers or not.

I completely agree with you, Brenda. Also, the Farmers are not the immediate problem, ya' know. Before the characters could really think about investigating them more, they have to take care of what's already on their plate, right?